Candidates debate

The Bastrop Mayoral Forum was held Thursday night in the courtroom of Bastrop City Hall. A full house was in attendance to hear what the candidates had to say regarding the future of Bastrop and what their role, if elected, would be.The candidates were asked predetermined questions, with each receiving two minutes to ...

Troy Downs, Samuel Jackson and Arthur Jones all answered they would not pursue the takeover, while Henry Cotton said he was a proponent of public utilities and had already been through the opinion of the city taking over the water company when Clarence Hawkins was mayor and the decision was brought to the people by a vote. The measure did not pass and Cotton said while he was still for public utilities, the people had spoken on that matter.

James Murphy said he did not know, he would have to look at what had already been done before he could make a decision. Mayor Betty Alford-Olive held up the City Charter, which defines the role of the mayor and told the crowd that she had exercised the will of the aldermen. Her job was to exercise that will and that is what she did.

Other highlights included:

How would you encourage business growth?

Cotton more workforce readiness

Downs train more people to work at jobs they like

Jackson needs a marketing tool the city as more recreational vs industrial bring public transportation

Jones clean the city first impression is only impression

Murphy look for the root causes of why there businesses are not coming, decrease crime, increase education

Olive continue what had been doing, working on industrial park to have more shovel ready sites

Anderson give tax exempt status to new business, network with other cities

How would you balance the budget?

Downs stated that he would have to be elected first in order to see how the budget could be balanced

Jackson stated he would cut nonessential personal

Jones said he couldn't say until he was able to go through it

Murphy said the city would save $400,000 if he was elected because he would not take pay.

Olive said she had lived with the budget for three years and had made many cuts including travel.

Anderson said he would cut out the luxuries in city hall and raise milage

Cotton can't adequately answer without being able to fully study it.

What is your plan to minimize crime?

Jackson said he is a victim himself. He feels drug addiction drives crime, engage community more